Portus Vitoriae, el Puerto Romano

Santander's history

Educational justification

Very often, we try to invent, imagine, etc. very sophisticated ways of improving our teaching in terms of the educational work we carry out in the classroom. These attempts at innovation very often ignore the resources closest to the student, or those that are easiest to use and which do not cost anything. In fact, very often after we have created excellent materials (educationally speaking), we see that the students are not interested or they lack motivation when we try and use the material. Unfortunately, it is not always the material that is the most detailed, or which has taken the most time to develop, or which pleases and satisfies the teacher the most that is the most successful in the classroom. For this reason, this activity aims to get us to think about the students' most basic elements, their surroundings and their motivation, starting with something that means a lot to them: their family and the contribution they can make.

As we have mentioned various times in this guide, the Port of Santander is part of the city's history and development. For this reason, we want to look more closely at this idea. Up until now, we have touched on elements of this history (from a financial, technological, etc.) point of view. Now we wish to do this from a more complete point of view: from an historical perspective.

We don't want to forget that it is important for students to be amazed by the experiences undergone by those older than them and to remember that these people still have much to contribute to society. It is also important for older people to be aware of their value and, most importantly, of what they have done, who they are and their values and contributions.

Piece of work linked to the following stage areas:

Knowledge of the surrounding area and Spanish language.

Description of the work to be undertaken:

How?: The work in this file includes an interview with family members or older people known to the students. It is important that they are older people so that they can talk about how Santander was when they were a boy or girl. We've included a number of questions that we think are suitable for this activity. The teacher may of course change, improve, and expand, etc. these questions if they feel it is appropriate. It would be a good idea for the teacher to explain to the students a simple way of collecting information (diagrams, tables, etc.) before they do the interviews and it will be easier if all the students use the same data collection method. Having done this, it is time to pool all the information or for the students to write a piece that they can later read out in class.

Where?: In the classroom. If the interviews are done before the visit, they can be used alongside some of the explanations given during the visit.

When?: Before or after the visit, although we would recommend that the interviews are done before the visit if possible.

Using what?: The relevant file. It would also be good if the teacher could help the students to record the information they collect in small tables.

Assessment: For the teacher to decide.

Complementary material: The teacher will find material relating to the history of Santander in the Materials and Resources section. There are some summarised texts that may help to recreate and give an idea of how Santander and its Port were in past times. It is also important to use books containing photos of historic Santander in the classroom and these books are listed in the bibliography.

Activity objectives:

To enable the students to understand the history of a specific and local area (the Bay of Santander) in terms of events in the last century which have influenced the development of the port up to current times.

To encourage the students to think about events experienced by previous generations.

To familiarise the students with the concept of space and time using photos taken during the last century.

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